The Films of Orson Welles

[Mister Gold]

Seeing how the man's been dead for thirty years now, I figured that it'd be best to just go ahead and make a career-spanning thread on Welles' films. Despite my personal disliking or indifference to Citizen Kane, I have always respected the technical brilliance that Welles achieved in that film from a directorial standpoint. Lately though I've been going back and watching other films by Welles (so far I've personally seen Touch of Evil and The Trial) and I'm positively astounded that hardly anyone in my film courses or any of my peers in the program have talked about these films!

I wasn't surprised to learn that Welles didn't even think that Kane was his best work, his personal favorite was The Trial, because it just seems like the stepping stone for an incredible director's entire career. It's just a shame that he had such a terrible history of losing creative control over his films and that quite a few of his works have been permanently butchered. I suspect that if his career hadn't been filled with such conflicts, Welles would be right there at the top more often and duking it out with Hitchcock, Kubrick, Kurosawa and Bergman over the "Greatest Director of All-Time" title.

Anyone else here seen films by Welles that wasn't Citizen Kane? If so, any recommendations on what other film(s) of his that I should check out next?

[BlobVanDam]

The only films I have seen involving Welles are Citizen Kane, and Transformers: The Movie. As far as I'm concerned, I've got his best works covered!

I pretty much agree with you on Citizen Kane, that I have a lot more respect for its impressive technical merits than merely as a movie. I did still like it however.

[Mister Gold]

The only films I have seen involving Welles are Citizen Kane, and Transformers: The Movie. As far as I'm concerned, I've got his best works covered!

Now that's a shame! At the very least, I'd recommend checking out Touch of Evil! It's one of the best crime films ever made, imo. Technically brilliant and thought-provoking, but it's also a lot of fun to watch too. Interestingly enough, ToE starred Janet Leigh from Psycho as the female lead and then in Welles' next film (The Trial) he had Anthony Perkins in the lead role!

That said, I'm not sure if I rank ToE over The Trial or vice-versa. The former is one of the absolute best film noirs ever made, while the latter is probably the single best example of cinema capturing the experience of a nightmare. Both films are just absolutely astounding views.

I pretty much agree with you on Citizen Kane, that I have a lot more respect for its impressive technical merits than merely as a movie. I did still like it however.

I really didn't care for it when I first saw and then I was just incredibly indifferent to it the second time around. I might like it better now, but I doubt my thoughts on it being the weakest of Welles' films that I've seen will ever change.

[BlobVanDam]

Not really my genre film, but I see it features Charlton Heston, so I might check it out. I've been itching to rewatch some old movies, so that would fit right in.




But it won't top Transformers.

[Mister Gold]

Not really my genre film, but I see it features Charlton Heston, so I might check it out. I've been itching to rewatch some old movies, so that would fit right in.

Yup! Heston plays a Mexican police officer, which takes a little bit of getting used to, but he's pretty fantastic in the film regardless.

But it won't top Transformers.

 

[Progmetty]

I haven't seen any of his movies, not even Citizen Kane even though it has been on my to-watch list for a long time.
However as an avid classic radio fan I've always loved his 1938 broadcast of The War of The Worlds and still relisten to it occasionally.

[Mister Gold]

I haven't seen any of his movies, not even Citizen Kane even though it has been on my to-watch list for a long time.
However as an avid classic radio fan I've always loved his 1938 broadcast of The War of The Worlds and still relisten to it occasionally.

I actually have never heard his broadcast of War of the Worlds. Heard plenty about it, but never listened to it itself.

I just rented Welles' adaptations of MacBeth and Othello from the library. I'll probably watch them both later tonight or sometime tomorrow. I also plan to check out his "essay film" F for Fake soon too.

EDIT: I absolutely love this scene from The Trial. It's very surreal.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rubVMcHlykg

[El Barto]

I never knew he did a film adaptation of The Trial. I'll definitely check that out.